What are the best temp range for optimal growth for newly emerged seedlings that still have seed leaves?
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seeds Opitimal Temps for Seedlings
- Thread starter Chocolate Hab
- Start date
Yikes! There is no way I could get my garage that warm. Today my little therometer says its 73* in there. I doubt that. More like 65* in there.
I was just answering your question to the OPTIMAL temps. In a greenhouse that temp is easier to get but in a home, then 65 to 73 is about right.
it does add a couple of days to germination.
basically i got zero germination on ring of fire's that were kept at 65-75F until I cranked up the temp to 82F and within two days they were (almost) all out.
Hey thanks for the responses. I put a different therometer in there and all day it has been staying in the 70's. So I think I will be ok. Man they are just sooooo slooooooow.
Oddly enough I have had a 100% success rate all year with getting seeds to do their thing within a few days with simply using an old Jiffy plastic seed starter greenhouse and sitting it on top of my cable box 24/7. The soil seems to sit around 89 F in the middle and the last two rows on the end are around 84. All of my Bhut seeds started coming up within 5 days. Not exactly the most technical way of starting seeds, why I call it Redneck Gardening 
-J
-J
Oddly enough I have had a 100% success rate all year with getting seeds to do their thing within a few days with simply using an old Jiffy plastic seed starter greenhouse and sitting it on top of my cable box 24/7. The soil seems to sit around 89 F in the middle and the last two rows on the end are around 84. All of my Bhut seeds started coming up within 5 days. Not exactly the most technical way of starting seeds, why I call it Redneck Gardening
-J
i feel really dumb now for not having used my flat white netgear router as a heating pad.
I germinate at 82-83 degrees on a heating mat, but as soon as I see green the heating mats go into storage and I try to maintain 68-70 degrees (air temperature).
I'm thinking though that, post-germination, temperature doesn't exist in a vacuum - it's temperature + lighting that matters.
High temperature, powerful artificial lighting such as T5's = OK. Strong, fast growth
Lower temperature, powerful lights = best of all worlds - strong, squat seedlings with lots of stored-up energy that are ready to rock at transplant
Low temp, weaker lights = exactly what you'd expect - slow growth, underdeveloped plants but not necessarily terminal - just slower to get going. They might catch up quick after transplant.
High temp, weaker lights = worst of all possible worlds - plants driven into overtime growth mode, without the fuel to do it. Lanky, weak plants that are then sickly all season.
It's kind of like a potter trying to make some pots. The heat (temperature) determines how fast the wheel spins, and the light is the raw material clay he has available to work with. If there's plenty of clay and the wheel turns fast, the potter can make a lot of good-quality pots. If there's a lack of clay and the wheel is spinning fast, the potter will cut corners, using less clay than needed, leading to very weak pots (that is the situation to avoid at all costs, high seedling temperatures with low lighting). If there's plenty of clay and the wheel turns slowly, that can be good - high quality pots using lots of raw material but with enough time to really sculpt something perfect. If there's a lack of clay and a slowly spinning wheel, that can be OK - you'll just get fewer pots but they might be good quality. The moral of the story is that temperature works together with lighting, and lower temperatures are more forgiving of lighting imperfections than higher temperatures.
I'm thinking though that, post-germination, temperature doesn't exist in a vacuum - it's temperature + lighting that matters.
High temperature, powerful artificial lighting such as T5's = OK. Strong, fast growth
Lower temperature, powerful lights = best of all worlds - strong, squat seedlings with lots of stored-up energy that are ready to rock at transplant
Low temp, weaker lights = exactly what you'd expect - slow growth, underdeveloped plants but not necessarily terminal - just slower to get going. They might catch up quick after transplant.
High temp, weaker lights = worst of all possible worlds - plants driven into overtime growth mode, without the fuel to do it. Lanky, weak plants that are then sickly all season.
It's kind of like a potter trying to make some pots. The heat (temperature) determines how fast the wheel spins, and the light is the raw material clay he has available to work with. If there's plenty of clay and the wheel turns fast, the potter can make a lot of good-quality pots. If there's a lack of clay and the wheel is spinning fast, the potter will cut corners, using less clay than needed, leading to very weak pots (that is the situation to avoid at all costs, high seedling temperatures with low lighting). If there's plenty of clay and the wheel turns slowly, that can be good - high quality pots using lots of raw material but with enough time to really sculpt something perfect. If there's a lack of clay and a slowly spinning wheel, that can be OK - you'll just get fewer pots but they might be good quality. The moral of the story is that temperature works together with lighting, and lower temperatures are more forgiving of lighting imperfections than higher temperatures.